Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar on Wednesday took oath as a member of the Punjab Assembly after a delay of two years and 10 months.
The lawmaker was unable to take an oath as a member of the assembly on Monday due to the “absence of the speaker and deputy speaker.”
The former interior minister left the assembly soon after he was administered the oath and then had a casual conversation with journalists.
“I will visit Lahore soon … where I will speak to the journalists in detail,” Nisar said, adding that he was not going to join any political party.
Nisar had been elected from Punjab Assembly’s constituency PP-10 in the 2018 general elections as an independent candidate. However, the former interior minister refrained from taking oath then, as he alleged that rigging cost him the National Assembly’s NA-59 seat.
Speaking to the media after he was unable to take the oath, he had said the day for his oath-taking was fixed but he was later informed that swearing-in was not possible in the absence of the speaker and deputy speaker of the assembly.
Earlier, amid reports of contacts between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz estranged leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and party president Shehbaz Sharif, party leader Maryam Nawaz has distanced herself from the separated member, saying Nisar has nothing to do with the PML-N affairs.
Speaking to reporters, Maryam said that Nisar is no more in the party and there is no truth in reports of his secret meetings with the party leaders.
Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also told media that Nisar has left the PML-N and the party will not take him back.
“When you leave your party, the party also leaves you. If Nisar wants to return to the PML-N, he should contact [PML-N supremo] Nawaz Sharif,” said Abbasi.
He said that no one expelled Nisar from the party and he himself left it.
Abbasi said Nisar should contact Nawaz Sharif if it is his decision to come back. “However, it is a bigger question that whether the party will take him back or not? I do not think the party will take him back. I do not see a place for Nisar in the PML-N,” he said.
Commenting on the reports of meetings between Nisar and Shehbaz, Abbasi said that Nisar has no contact with anyone. “We are all his friends for decades. If he could not keep in touch with us and Nawaz, then it would be difficult for him to return,” he said.
Abbasi further said that Shehbaz and Maryam have the same stance over issues. “Everyone has own way of speaking. Maryam plays her role where she is needed. Shehbaz can become prime minister. She will lead the party. Every office is a trust that the party decides,” he added.
